Health Access’s new 2021 Legislative Scorecard highlights key bills supported by health care consumer advocates in the 2021 legislative session. Several of the bills listed sought to respond to the problems of the pandemic, which highlighted the gaps and inequities in our health care system, from lack of access to care, to the resulting economic hardships faced by millions of California families which put health costs at odds with many other needs. In the face of this, with the support of health advocates and state Legislators, California was able to make great progress towards universal, affordable, and equitable health care coverage for many more Californians.
Check out the 2021 scorecard to see how your state representative voted on key bills to expand coverage, reduce health care costs, and improve quality and equity in our health care system.
More than half of all legislators (27 Senators & 42 Assemblymembers) voted with health care consumers 100% of the time for the 2021 legislative session, with 26 lawmakers (10 Senators & 16 Assemblymembers) earning the title of “Health Consumer Champion” for receiving 100% for 3 years running (2019-2021).
We thank the California legislators who have stood with health care consumers every step of the way, taking historic steps to remove barriers to care and increase quality and accountability in the health system. We also urge them to continue to fight for the reforms still needed to fully make our health care system one for all Californians.
Health advocates particularly want to highlight the twenty-six lawmakers that have voted with health care consumers 100% of the time for three years running, for the 2019-2021 legislative sessions, deeming them “Health Consumer Champions”. The 10 Senators with this distinction include Senators Allen, Atkins, Durazo, Gonzalez, Hertzberg, Leyva, Pan, Skinner, Wieckowski, and Wiener. The 16 Assemblymembers with this distinction include Aguiar-Curry, Berman, Chiu, Friedman, Gabriel, Cristina Garcia, Holden, Levine, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Santiago, Stone, Ting, Wicks, and Wood. You can find all of Health Access previous scorecards here.
The scorecard has its limits in telling the full story in health policy for 2021, particularly as major health care progress was made in the state budget, rather than in specific bills. Yet the scorecard serves as a resource to show, when given an opportunity to publicly vote on key legislation that affect health care consumers in committee or on the Assembly or Senate floor, the percentage of time lawmakers sided with California health care consumers.